S. Korea reports 967 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday
코로나19 어제 967명 신규확진…사흘만에 다시 1천명 아래<br /><br />Our top story this afternoon.<br />South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases has fallen below 1,000 for the first time in three days.<br />But the country reported 21 more deaths from COVID-19 and hundreds remain critically ill.<br />Min Suk-hyen starts us off.<br /><br />South Korea reported 9-hundred-67 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, falling below a thousand for the first time in three days.<br />Of the additional cases, 940 were locally transmitted, while 27 were from overseas.<br />This now brings the nation's total number of cases to over 60-thousand.<br /><br />Concerns are also rising over the recent uptick in the number of deaths.<br />According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, 21 more fatalities were reported in the past 24 hours, raising the death toll to 9-hundred.<br />Meanwhile, the number of critically ill patients remains above 3-hundred.<br /><br />Infections have mostly been concentrated in the greater Seoul area, accounting for about 70 percent of all confirmed cases.<br />The capital again reported the MOST cases with 3-hundred-65... followed by 2-hundred-19 in Gyeonggi-do Province.<br /><br />Cluster infections continue to appear at long-term care hospitals and religious facilities.<br />A total of 17 nursing homes have been hit with mass virus outbreaks, including one in Seoul's Guro-gu District and another in Goyang, Gyeonggi-do Province... both of which have more than a hundred cases linked to them.<br /><br />Health authorities have vowed to strengthen their response against the virus, announcing plans to start vaccinations in the first quarter of 2021.<br /><br />"The COVID-19 treatment made by S. Korea is under review and we are signing contracts to purchase vaccines developed abroad. Inoculations will begin as early as February."<br /><br />The Prime Minister added that Korean-made vaccines will be available by the end of next year.<br />Min Suk-hyen, Arirang News.<br />